Their father's death and loss of the business ruined the family's finances and they were plunged into hardship. For the next few years they would struggle as a family to make ends meet and hold on to what they had. It was very tough. Sometimes the only school lunch they could afford was home-cooked cornmeal with oil and water. For some other families this was dog food so the little Lamm boys would go off by themselves at lunchtime to eat in a hurry.